Lady Paladins Set To Open Play At NCAA Regional On Friday

May 17, 2007

Furman NCAA Regional Notes
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Greenville, S.C. -- The Furman Lady Paladin softball team, making its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, begins play in the NCAA's Knoxville Regional Friday when it faces the top-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols in a 5 p.m. contest at Tyson Park.

Furman, 21-34-1 on the season, enters the game fresh off of claiming the Southern Conference Tournament championship last weekend in Greensboro, N.C. The Lady Paladins, seeded seventh, breezed through the winner's bracket to reach the championship round. Georgia Southern emerged from the loser's bracket and downed Furman 4-1 in the first championship round match-up. Furman rallied in game two with SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Player Amber Kiser driving in Danielle Franklin on a two-out, RBI double in the bottom of the ninth to give Furman a 3-2 victory and an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.

Kiser leads Furman with a .316 batting average and a school single-season record 46 runs. Fellow sophomore Stephanie Cushing leads the squad and ranks third in the SoCon with 45 RBI while senior Megan Jaudon has paced the Lady Paladins with six home runs.

Junior Blake Murray (10-17, 3.24 ERA) guided Furman through the SoCon Tournament earning three wins in the circle and all-tournament honors. Freshman Lana Mackey (9-13), who leads Furman with a 2.87 ERA, limited Georgia Southern to just one earned run in earning the victory in the tournament clinching game.

Tennessee, the No. 5 national seed in this year's NCAA Tournament, spent most of the season ranked at the top of the collegiate polls. The Lady Vols, led by all-american pitcher Monica Abbott, posted a 54-5 overall record and claimed the Southeastern Conference regular season crown. Abbott, who led the Lady Vols to the College World Series in 2006, holds the NCAA Division I career strikeouts record and is quickly rewriting the NCAA record book.

Friday's game marks the fifth all-time meeting between Furman and Tennessee with the Lady Vols holding a 4-0 lead in the series. In the last meeting between the two schools in 2005, Abbott tossed a three-hit shutout to lead Tennessee past Furman 11-0.

Winthrop and North Carolina open play in the four-team, double elimination regional at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. The winners of Friday's game will meet at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday with the losers scheduled to do battle at 4 p.m. in an elimination game.

Fans can follow all the tournament action on GameTracker by clicking on the NCAA Softball Championships link on the front page of www.FurmanPaladins.com.